Trojans post shutout of second-seeded Chargers


Mililani's Nicole Nishiki attempts to control the ball against Pearl City. Tyler Kanoa | Special to SL

WAIPAHU — Three different players scored goals to help Mililani to a 3-0 win over Pearl City in day two of the Outrigger Hotels and Resorts/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I Girls Soccer State Championships Thursday at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex.

Cassandra Stetser, Gabrielle Fukumoto and Tia Furuta each netted a goal as the unseeded Trojans toppled the second-seeded Chargers in a quarterfinal game. Mililani, the Oahu Interscholastic Association's fifth-place team, improved to 13-3 and will play Kamehameha in a 7 p.m. semifinal Friday. The OIA-champion Chargers saw a five-game win streak snapped and fell to 10-5.

"I've been saying this all season that it's just a season of uncertainty — everybody's of caliber, everybody's got parity — it's just a matter of which team is going to show up," Akiona said. "As you can see, there's so many unpredictable finishes over here and so for us the key was to come in really strong from the very beginning because Pearl City's been really doing well. They won the OIA championship so you've got to respect that and so the intensity had to be there. We're fortunate we got it real early."

Stetser, a senior forward, got the scoring started in the ninth minute with her team-leading 16th goal. The score held until midway through the second half when Fukumoto, a junior midfielder, scored. Furuta, a sophomore forward, closed out the scoring with her 13th goal of the season in the 69th minute.

The Trojans are an unlikely semifinalist after having lost to Kaiser, 1-0, in the quarterfinal round of the OIA tournament. They rebounded from that with consolation-bracket victories on consecutive days and have now won four straight.

"Anytime you're looking from a different direction, you have to start to question and you start to look at yourself and say, 'Where do we need to go? What do we need to do?,'" Akiona said. "So we had that week off to kind of have some time for reflection and say 'OK, where's our strengths and what do we need work on?,' and I give the girls credit, we worked hard this last week and we're very proud of what they've done."

Mililani beat Pearl City in a regular-season game on Dec. 12 by a score of 5-0.

OTHER DIVISION I QUARTERFINAL RESULTS
KAMEHAMEHA-KAPALAMA 3, KAMEHAMEHA-MAUI 0:
Shyann Moriguchi, Janelle Stone and Kawaiualani Makue each scored in the first half and the ILH runner-up Warriors (12-1-1) shutout the MIL-champion and third-seeded Warriors (12-1).

AIEA 2, KONAWAENA 0: Raisa Strom-Okimoto scored early in the first half and Tiara Ono early in the second to lead Na Alii (12-4) — the OIA's sixth-place team — past the BIIF-champion and fourth-seed Wildcats (10-2-2). Aiea will play Kapolei in a 5 p.m. semifinal Friday.

DIVISION II QUARTERFINAL RESULTS
MID-PACIFIC 3, KAPAA 0:
Janaye Shepherd, Cody Yoshimura and Kayla Watanabe each scored and the top-seeded Owls (5-6-2) shutout the Warriors (6-6-2).

KAMEHAMEHA-HAWAII 1, KALAHEO 0: JC Kerr scored in the 94th minute to lead the Warriors (10-4-1) past the Mustangs (6-7). Kamehameha-Hawaii will play reigning Division II champion Mid-Pacific in a 3 p.m. semifinal Friday.

HAWAII PREP 8, LEILEHUA 0: Bri Vallente scored once in each half and six others added a goal as Ka Makani (11-2-1) routed the Mules (6-7).

PAC-FIVE 3, KAUAI 1: Jamie Saito's hat trick rallied the Wolf Pack (6-7-1) past the Red Raiders (12-1). Pac-Five will play Hawaii Prep in a 1 p.m. semifinal Friday.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].